Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus for detecting and storing data representative of a shock due to an impart imparted to a vehicle during travel thereof, including magnitude of the shock and the time and position at which the shock occurred.
As disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. Sho 55-131774, there is known a device or unit capable of storing data of magnitude and time of generation of a shock imparted to a transportation cargo during transportation thereof. In this prior art arrangement, the storage unit is removed from a transportation means such as a vehicle after transportation and is connected to a personal computer so that the data can be analyzed and the results can be used for various purposes such as determining shortcomings of current transportation conditions, improvement of future transportation conditions, and the like.
The above-mentioned storage unit can easily provide data of magnitude of a shock and the time at which the shock has occurred. Although such data easily can be obtained, it is difficult to determine a specific place along the transportation path of a vehicle where the shock has occurred. Therefore, such above-mentioned conventional device cannot be used for the purpose of determining, for example, the conditions of a road surface by specifying the place therealong at which a shock-generating condition exists.
When it is attempted to determine the position where the shock has occurred from the time at which the shock has occurred, there is no other way than to guess the position where the shock has occurred based on the speed of travel of the vehicle, etc., and the time at which the shock has occurred. Since the traveling speed itself is not clearly known, it is difficult to specify the position on a map where a harmful shock has occurred. Therefore, it is not possible to determine accurately a specified position whereat repair of a road surface or the like is necessary.